Self-Ambivalence and Psychological Adjustment in Cultural Context

Abstract

Bleuler and Freud claimed that conflicting feelings toward an attitude object, or ambivalence, may be associated with psychological maladjustment. While their viewpoint seems generally accepted in Western cultures, it is less clear whether it applies in other cultures. Two studies investigated whether self-ambivalence (SA; the co-presence of contrary evaluations of the self as an attitude object) is associated with several common manifestations of mental health in America (one study) and Japan (two studies). In Study 1, participants were 152 American and 162 Japanese college students. Results indicated that American participants were significantly higher in self-esteem (SE), and significantly lower in SA and depression than the Japanese participants, but did not differ in pessimism or anxiety, and that SA was associated with higher pessimism, anxiety, and depression in America, but associated with lower pessimism and uncorrelated with anxiety and depression in Japan. In Study 2, involving 165 Japanese participants, a negative relationship was found between SE and neuroticism, pessimism, anxiety, and depression, and a positive relationship between SE and life satisfaction, but no relationship was found between SA and neuroticism, pessimism, life satisfaction, anxiety, or depression. However, SE and SA were modestly correlated, suggesting that SA is not only not inimical to mental health (in Japan) but may actually be (at least modestly) beneficial. Culture-specific mental health implications of SA are discussed.